Method of and means for making honeycomb utilizing helical printing roller



Dec. 17, 1963 D. H. JOHNSON 3,114,666

METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR MAKING HONEYCOMB UTILIZING HELICAL PRINTINGROLLER Filed May 6, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Dec. 17, 1963 D. H. JOHNSON3,114,666

METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR MAKING HONEYCOMB UTILIZING HELICAL. PRINTINGROLLER Filed May 6, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I u co N u z$ m m a N U E u.06

INVENTOR Delbert H. Johnson United States Patent M 3,114,566 METHOD (llAND MEANS FOR MAKHNG Cfilvlls UTELEZENG HELHIAL PRHNTENG RULLER DelbertH. Johnson, @Concord, @alili, assignor to lieacel hroducts inc,Berkeley, (Calida, a corporation of California Filed May 6, rest, Ser.No. 27,399 4 Claims. (65. l56ll97) This invention relates to the art or"honeycomb. More specifically the invention relates to a novel means forprinting adhesive lines on continuous web material from which sectionsare cut, stacked and adhered together to form unexpanded honeycomb. Saidinvention also relates to a novel method of making honeycomb.

Heretofore it has been proposed to provide a machine for making stacksof unexpandcd honeycomb by utilizing a rotary adhesive printer forapplying adhesive lines to continuous web material in conjunction with acutter for cutting sections of equal length from the web subsequent tothe application of the glue lines thereto. By providing suitablestacking means the sections cut from the web material can be superposedone upon the other in such manner that the adhesive lines of adjacentsheets are staggered relative to one another, and whereby when all thesheets are adhered together, the stack can be expanded to form open cellhoneycomb material. For specific prior art teaching in this ant,reference is made to prior US. Patent No. 2,734,843, to Steele, datedFebruary 14, 1956.

The improvement which is the subject of the present invention comprisesa printing roll mounted transversely of the moving web of material andin contact therewith for the purpose of applying glue lines thereto. Theprinting roll is provided with a helical printing line pattern spirallycircumscribing the body of the roll from one end toward the otherthereof, and resembling the thread pattern on a screw or threaded shaftof uniform diameter. The rotation of the said printing roll iscorrelated with the operation of the cutter in such manner that thecutter will successively cut sections of equal length from thecontinuous web at equidistant spaced points disposed longitudinally ofthe eb and offset 188 to one another in reference to the rotation ofsaid printing roll, whereby the adhesive lines of adjacent sheets cutfrom said web and successively stacked one upon the other will bestaggered from one another art-amount equal to one-half the pitchbetween the helical printing lines of the roller.

According to the method of the present invention, equidistantly spacedpanallel lines of adhesive are applied to a continuous web in suchmanner that the lines are angularly displaced from parallel to thelongitudinal axis of the web as, for example, from about 1 /2 to 5, ormore if desired. After the lines are applied, the web is transverselycut into sections of equal length along equidistantly spaced out linescoincident with each point along the web where the adhesive lines arelaterally offset onehalf pitch from the adhesive lines of the precedingcut. The said out sections are superposed one on the other in successiveorder in which they are out from the web whereby the result is tostagger the adhesive line of adjacent sheets one-half pitch from oneanother.

A principal object of the invention is to provide in a honeycomb-makingmachine a single printing roll which when properly correlated with theoperation of the cutter can be utilized to print glue lines on sheetscapable of stacking in an appropriate pattern to define unexpandedhoneycomb. An advantage and feature of the helical printing rollerdescribed herein is that the lines of adhesive are applied continuouslyand without interruption whereby there occurs no end trim-off lossessuch as experienced in aliases Patented Dec. 1?, i953 2 utilizing othertypes of proposed single roll printing mechanisms of which I haveknowledge and in which the lines are not applied continuously but ininterrupted pattern of one type or another.

Another object and advantage of the invention is that the same providesan extremely accurate and simple way of applying a uniform adhesive linepattern to the Web and for cutting and registering the lines in exactlyproper honeycomb-forming pattern within the stack. For exa .1- ple,utilizing a printing roll having a 50-inch circumference and where thecutter is corrlea-ted with the rotation of the printing roll to cut thesheets at every half cycle of rotation of the roller or into 25-inchlengths, a sheeting error of of an inch will represent less than .001inch in lateral misposition between the glue lines of successivelystacked sheets. It is a fairly simple task with modern printing andsheeting equipment to maintain the margin of error in length betweensuccessively cut sheets of 25 inches or thereabouts within a very smallfraction of an inch.

Another feature of the invention is that the circumference of theprinting roller does not place a maximum limitation on the length ofsheets cut from the web. In this regard, longer sheet lengths may beobtained by correlating the cutter to actuate at less frequent intervalsthan each half cycle rotation of the printing roller, as, for example,the cutter may be actuated at each 1 /2, 2 /2, 3 /2, etc., cycles ofrotation of the roller with the results being the same. It is onlynecessary to actuate the cutter to cut the sections in equal length andwith successive cuts being ofiset to one another in reference to therotation of the printing roller.

Another object of the invention is to teach a novel method ofmanufacturing honeycomb.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent upon reading the following specification and referring to theaccompanying drawing in which similar characters of reference representcorresponding parts in each of the several views.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a generally diagrammatic view of a machine constructed inaccordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a view in perspective of a printing roll to which the helicalglue line printing surfaces have been engraved;

FIG. 3 is a top plan fragmentary view of a continuous web to whichadhesive lines have been applied showing the location of equidistantlyspaced cut lines thereon;

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of a stack of unexpanded honeycomb made inaccordance with the invention and showing the top sheet partially brokenaway and exposing the undersheet;

FIG. 5 is a top plan view of an expanded section of honeycomb made inaccordance with the invention;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken substantially on line 55 of PEG. 5;

FIG. 7 is similar to FIG. 3, but shows the cut lines disposedperpendicular to the axes. of the printed adhesive lines; and

FIG. 8 is a vertical sect-ion of a honeycomb product made in accordancewith the web printing and cutting technique of FIG. 7.

Referring now to FIG. 1 in the drawings the reference character 11illustrates a continuous web of material, such as paper, resinimpregnated fabric, or metal foil, being fed from its roll sourcebetween a printing roll 12 and a back-up roll 13. The printing roll 12(more fully illustrated in FIG. 2) is mounted in conventional fashionfor rotation of its lower periphery within an adhesive tank 14. The roll12 may be of the rotogravure type and is engraved or etched with acontinuous helical printing line surface 16 which spirallycircurnscribes the body of the roll from one end toward the opposite endthereof. Liquid adhesive picked up from the tank 14 by the lower rollperiphery is rotated past a doctor blade 17 whereat liquid adhesive iswiped oil from the surfaces of the roller, except where it is retainedin the etched henx printing line surfaces to.

As the printing roll rotates in contact with the ad acent surface ofcontinuous web ill (under pressure of backup roll 13) equidistantlyspaced parallel glue lines its are applied to the web. It may be hereremarked that too width and spacing between the etched printing surfaces16 as well as the amount of angular dis-placement existing between theaxes of the etched line surfaces 16 and the diametral plane of theprinting roll X2 may be varied according to the type and cell size ofhoneycomb material to be produced by the process. By way of example, itis possible in actual practice, to angulurly displace the helical lineson the rollers as little as l /2 from the diametral plane of theprinting roll. By the same token, in actual practice, the lines 18 thatwould be printed by such a roller onto the web material would beangularly displaced from the longitudinal axis the same amounte.g.,about 1% in the instance cited.

The reference numeral 19 illustrates an oven zone which may be employedto dry the adhesive lines in instances Where a thermoplastic adhesive isused or in instances where a three-stage thermosetting-type adhesive isused and which can be dried or advanced to a dry nontacky conditionprior to final curing. The use of dryline type of adhesives in the artof manufacturing honeycomb is well known as exemplified by the teachingsof said prior Steele Patent No. 2,734,843.

The reference numeral 21 indicates a rotary cutter, the operation ofwhich may be assumed to be correlated to the rotation of the printingroll 12 so as to out the web ll into sections of equal length upon every180 of rotation of said printing roll. In the drawings, the printingroll and rotary cutter are shown as mechanically linked together by anendless chain or belt 22 at a 2 to 1 ratio whereby the rotary cutterwill revolve twice for each complete cycle of rotation of the printingroll.

The rotary cutter will thereby operate to cut sections of equal lengthsuch as indicated at 11a, [2 and c in the drawings along cut lines 26ae,inclusive (FIG. 3), and whereby the length of each section will be equalto on half the circumference of the printing roll and whereby further,the cut lines are made coincident with each point where the adhesivelines become laterally oifset onehalf pitch from the adhesive lines ofthe immediately preceding cut. As a consequence, when the sectionsElla-c are superposed in a stack lllld in the successive order fromwhich they are cut from the web, the adhesive lines of adjacent sheetswill be staggered from one another in an amount equal to one-half thepitch between the glue lines applied to the sheet by the helicalprinting roller. This is demonstrated in FIG. 4, wherein its is seenthat the glue lines 18a applied to the top sheet are staggered inreference to the glue lines 1852 of the adjacent undersheen After theglue lines have been caused to firmly adhere all of the sheets togetherin the stack, either the entire stack or slices cut therefrom may beexpanded and opened out to form a honeycomb configuration such as shownin T6. 5. The individual webs of honeycomb are designated by the numeralill and they are shown as bonded together at their adjoining nodes byblue lines FIG. 6 is a sectional view of FIG. 5 and shows the bondinglines 113 angularly displaced to a small degree from erpendicular to theplanar face surfaces of the honeycomb sheet. In this connection theamount of angular displacement between the axes of the node bonds H8 andthe planar face surfaces of the honeycomb core will be determined by theamount of angular displacement from perpendicular between the axes ofthe glue lines 13 applied to the moving web and the axis of the cutlines 26ae by which the web is cut into sections of equal length. Thus,as shown in MG. 3 the cut lines Zea-e are disposed perpendicular to thelongitudinal axis of the web 11, but approximately 5 from perpendicularto the axes of the glue lines 11 applied to the web. Therefore, the nodebond lines 1 18 as shown in FIG. 6 also will be disposed the 5 from theplanar surfaces of the honeycomb section. However, any oblique angulardisplacement between the node bonds of the core and the face surfacesthereof may be eliminated entirely by orienting the cutter to cut theweb perpendicular to the axes of the glue lines applied to the webrather than perpendicular to the axis of the moving web itself. Thislatter situation is illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8 wherein it is seen thatby cutting a continuous web (to which angularly displaced glue lines 213have been applied by a helical roller as previously described) alongparallel lines of cut flea-e disposed perpendicular to the glue linesrather than perpendicular the longitudinal axis of the web, theresultant honeycomb core product as shown in FIG. 8 will incorporatenode bonds 213 that are perpendicular to the planar surfaces of the corematerial itself.

in the previously described embodiment of the invention, it has beenmentioned how the cutter can be correlated to rotation of the helicalprinting roller whereby the cutter cuts the moving web corresponding toeach half cycle, or of rotation, of the printing roller. By cutting theweb corresponding to successive half cycles of the printing roller,three things are apparent: (1) the web will be cut into sections ofequal length, -(2) each cut section will equal one-half thecircumference of the printing roller, and (3) the lines of adhesive ofsuccessively cut sections will be osffet one-half pitch relative to oneanother when superposed in a stack as shownin FIG. 1. It is unnecessary,however, to correlate the action of the cutter so as to cut the web ateach 180 of rotation of the printing roller, and instead, it may bedesired to actuate the cutter at less frequent intervals than every halfcycle of the printing roller. This is entirely feasible provided thatthe cutter is actuated to cut sections from the Web in any selectedmultiple of half cycles of rotation of the printing roller so long assuccessive cuts are 180 offset from one another and so long as the cycleof cutting operation is arranged to cut the web into sections of equallength. In this connection, the cutter may be correlated in reference tothe printing roller so as to cut the web at every half, 1%, 2 /2, 3 /2,etc., cycles of rotation of the printing roller.

It is also observed that the lengths of the sections cut from the webwill be equal to the number of half cycles made by the printing rollerbetween successive cuts multiplied by the circumference of the printingroller. Thus, in the example earlier given, if cuts are madecorresponding to each half cycle of the printing roller, and the rolleris 50 inches in circumference, the length of the sections cut from theweb would be determined by the formula:

/2 5O=25 inches sheet length Similarly, if the cutter is correlated tooperate at each 1 /2 cycles of the priming roller of the same size, thelengths of sections cut from the web would be:

1.5 X 50:75 inches sheet length A particular advantage of the presentarrangement is that the size or circumference of the printing rollerdoes not place a maximum limitation on the length of the sections thatcan be cut from the web. Consequently, t is possible to make arelatively small diameter printmg roller (which is much less expensiveto make than a large diameter roller) and to regulate the length of websections by actuating the cutter at less frequent intervals than eachhalf cycle of rotation of the printing roller-i.e., at each 1 /2, 2 /2,3%., etc., cycles of rotation. Stated otherwise, the cutter Zll can beadapted to cut web 111 at every 180 of rotation of printing roll 13,

or at any odd integral multiple of 180 of printing roll rotation.

Although the foregoing invention has been described in some detail byway of illustration and example for purposes of clarity ofunderstanding, it is understood that certain changes and modificationsmay be practiced within the spirit of the invention as limited only bythe scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a machine for making a stack of unexpanded honeycomb formed fromsheets cut from a continuous web and wherein said machine is of the typeutilizing a rotary adhesive printer for applying substantially paralleladhesive lines to one surface of said continuous web and a cutter forcutting sections of equal length from said web subsequent to theapplication of glue lines thereto, the improvements comprising: aprinting roll mounted transversely of the moving web and in contacttherewith and defining an uninterrupted helical printing line patternspirally circumscribing the body of said roll from one end toward theother end thereof operable to print on only one side of the web spacedparallel lines of adhesive extending at an oblique angle in reference tothe lengthwise axis of the web; means for cutting the web transverse tothe direction of travel of said web; means for correlating the rotationof said roller with the Operation of said cutting means for causing thecutting means to actuate and cut successive sections of equal lengthfrom said web at equidistant points disposed longitudinally of the weband offset an odd integral of 180 to one another in reference torotation of said printing roller, and means for successively stackingsaid cut sheets one upon the other with the lines of adhesive ofadjacent sheets arranged in staggered relation to one another.

2. The combination of claim 1 and wherein the axis of said cutter isdisposed to cut said web along parallel cut lines disposed perpendicularto the lengthwise axis of said web and at an oblique angle in referenceto the axes of said parallel adhesive lines.

3. The combination of claim 1 and wherein the axis of said cutter isdisposed to cut said web along parallel cut lines disposed perpendicularto said parallel lines of adhesive and at an oblique angle in referenceto the length wise axis of said web.

4. A method of making honeycomb comprising the steps of applying to onesurface of a continuous web equidistantly spaced apart paralleluninterrupted lines of adhesive angularly displaced from parallel to thelongitudinal axis of said web; transversely cutting said web intosections of equal length along equidistantly spaced cut lines coincidentwith each point where the adhesive lines are laterally offset one-halfpitch from the adhesive lines of the preceding cut; and superposing saidcut sections one on the other in successive order in which they are cutfrom the web with cut edges thereof in substantial alignment, wherebythe adhesive lines of adjacent sheets cut from said web and successivelystacked one upon the other will be staggered from one another in anamount equal to one-half the pitch between the adhesive lines applied tothe web.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS685,780 Martin Nov. 5, 1901 1,683,707 Smith Sept. 11, 1928 1,974,209Fowler Sept. 18, 1934 2,354,981 Barber Aug. 1, 1944 2,610,934 SteeleSept. 16, 1952 2,734,843 Steele Feb. 14, 1956 2,887,425 Holland May 19,1959 2,983,640 Knoll et al. May 9, 1961 3,006,798 Holland Oct. 31, 1961

4. A METHOD OF MAKING HONEYCOMB COMPRISING THE STEPS OF APPLYING TO ONE SURFACE OF A CONTINUOUS WEB EQUIDISTANTLY SPACED APART PARALLEL UNINTERRUPTED LINES OF ADHESIVE ANGULARLY DISPLACED FROM PARALLEL TO THE LONGITUDINAL AXIS OF SAID WEB; TRANSVERSELY CUTTING SAID WEB INTO SECTIONS OF EQUAL LENGTH ALONG EQUIDISTANTLY SPACED CUT LINES COINCIDENT WITH EACH POINT WHERE THE ADHESIVE LINES ARE LATERALLY OFFSET ONE-HALF PITCH FROM THE ADHESIVE LINES OF THE PRECEDING CUT; AND SUPERPOSING SAID CUT SECTIONS ONE ON THE OTHER IN SUCCESSIVE ORDER IN WHICH THEY ARE CUT FROM THE WEB WITH CUT EDGES THEROF IN SUBSTANTIAL ALIGNMENT,WHEREBY THE ADHESIVE LINES OF ADJACENT SHEETS CUT FROM SAID WEB AND SUCCESSIVELY STACKED ONE UPON THE OTHER WILL BE STAGGERED FROM ONE ANOTHER IN AN AMOUNT EQUAL TO ONE-HALF THE PITCH BETWEEN THE ADHESIVE LINES APPLIED TO THE WEB. 